Aronofsky’s AI Series “1776” Draws Backlash
“Black Swan,” “Caught Stealing” and “The Wrestler” filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s new work has become the subject of a lot of debate in the past 48 hours.
Titled “On This Day… 1776,” the multi-part animated web series from AI studio Primordial Soup which Aronofsky founded last year, re-creates moments from the American Revolutionary War.
The short-form series combines “traditional filmmaking tools and emerging AI capabilities,” including from Google’s DeepMind AI division, to tell the stories about the Revolutionary War.
According to TIME, the individuals in the series are voiced by SAG-AFTRA union actors as the series documents key events of the country’s foundational conflict. Aronofsky executive produces the series which has an original score by Jordan Dykstra and is penned by a writer’s room led by Lucas Sussman.
Time Studios licensed the series and will distribute the episodes across Time’s YouTube channel throughout 2026, the first two of which premiered on Thursday.
Ben Bitonti, president of Time Studios, says in a statement: “This project is a glimpse at what thoughtful, creative, artist-led use of AI can look like — not replacing craft, but expanding what’s possible and allowing storytellers to go places they simply couldn’t before.”
However, the reaction to the shorts so far has been negative with heavy criticism from not just the audience but critics and fellow creatives within the industry who see it as a line being crossed.
“Daredevil: Born Again” showrunner Steven S. DeKnight dubs it a “complete betrayal of cinema”. The trailer itself, which has 84,700 views so far on YouTube, has pulled in 404 likes to 9,994 dislikes.
Top comments on its page include “This is why ram costs $1k now” by ‘hrcek987’ and “I didn’t know the American Revolution took place in the Uncanny Valley” by ‘TomStewart.
The Ai powered clips launched at an interesting time as YouTube has started deleting major ‘AI slop’ channels on the platform – 16 channels with videos totalling 4.7 billion views have already been impacted according to Lifehacker
Source: Variety